Lessons from a 95 Year Old Man Named Pops

Welcome to the Anturas newsletter, where I share my thoughts, learnings, and failures to help you think, learn, and grow. If you enjoy it, please feel free to forward along to friends.

Quote I Loved:

“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Things I Am Thinking About:

Last weekend I was at a wedding and I met a 95 year old man named Pops. He was sitting in his rocking chair, overlooking a lake, in front of his beautiful house. I went up to introduce myself and he was immediately quick with a joke. Throughout the night, he'd get up, walk around, even shake a move on the dance floor with some young ladies.

I'm not around many 95 year old people and I was blown away with pops. Here's a guy, who's mind was sharp as a tack, who's body would still let him dance, and who always wore a smile. I needed to learn his secret.

The next day we had a little more time, so I sat down and started chatting with him. At one point, I slipped in, "pops, how do you do it? What's your secret?"

And he gave me the playbook…

He's made his own granola for the last 50 years and he eats a bunch of vegetables
He remains active every day (each morning and night he does a set of pushups and planks)
He fell in love with the most amazing woman
He switched 1 ice cube and 2 pours of whisky to 2 ice cubes and 1 pour of whisky

For the next hour we talked about his wife, we looked through photobooks together, and we shared several laughs. All the while rocking back and forth overlooking the lake he's been at since he was a kid.

I ask people what they want their life to look like and many times it's struggle to come up with an answer. For me, Pops is that answer.

At the end of my life…

I want to have loved someone with all my heart.

I want to have a clear mind

I want to be able to dance at my grandson's wedding.

I want to sit on a rocking chair, overlooking a lake, in front of my beautiful lake house.

I want to be like pops.

Now I can work backwards and focus on all the things that will make that a reality.

Questions I'm Asking Myself:

What do I need to do today, to be like Pops?